BILL ANALYSIS |
C.S.H.B. 2349 |
By: Aycock |
Public Education |
Committee Report (Substituted) |
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Recent legislation made sweeping changes to the Education Code relating to public school assessment, performance standards, and course requirements. C.S.H.B. 2349 seeks to implement a series of related follow-up adjustments.
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CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.
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RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.
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ANALYSIS
C.S.H.B. 2349 amends the Education Code to replace the criterion for which a student may earn a performance acknowledgment on the student's diploma and transcript for outstanding performance on the PSAT, the ACT-Plan, the SAT, or the ACT with criterion for outstanding performance on an established, valid, reliable, and nationally norm-referenced test used by colleges and universities as part of their undergraduate admissions process or on a preliminary college preparation test with the same characteristics used to measure a student's progress toward readiness for college and the workplace. The bill adds as a criterion the student earning a state recognized business or industry certification or license.
C.S.H.B. 2349 limits the requirement adopted by the commissioner of education that a student be administered each end-of-course test to an end-of-course test for a course in which the student is enrolled and for which an end-of-course test is administered. The bill removes language limiting the Texas Education Agency's authority to defer releasing standardized test questions and answer keys, to the extent necessary to develop additional tests, to the period under which the transition from general subject tests administered at the high school level to end-of-course tests is made. The bill removes a provision setting an expiration date of September 1, 2015, for certain provisions relating to the commissioner's adoption by rule of a plan for that transition.
C.S.H.B. 2349 changes a condition under which a public school student may not enroll in more than three courses at a junior college for joint high school and junior college credit from a condition under which the junior college does not have a service area that includes the student's high school to a condition under which the service area of another junior college includes the student's high school. The bill authorizes a public school student to enroll in a greater number of courses if each junior college and the school district in which the student is enrolled authorize by agreement the student's enrollment.
C.S.H.B. 2349 repeals provisions relating to requiring a school district to require a student who on completion of grade 11 is unlikely to achieve the score requirement for one or more end-of-course tests to enroll in a corresponding content-area college preparatory course for which an end-of-course test has been adopted; to authorizing the student's score on that test to be used towards satisfying the end-of-course test score requirement for receiving a high school diploma; and to requiring the State Board of Education to establish a level of performance on the special-purpose questions included in an end-of-course test that indicates a student's college readiness. The bill's provisions apply beginning with the 2015–2016 school year.
C.S.H.B. 2349 repeals the following provisions of the Education Code: · Section 39.023(o) · Section 39.0233(c) · Section 39.025(b-2)
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EFFECTIVE DATE
On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, the 91st day after the last day of the legislative session.
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COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE
While C.S.H.B. 2349 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following comparison is organized and formatted in a manner that indicates the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.
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